Remembering When
by sarahofearth
Summary: To Kaylee. Featuring good!Ian, because I like the guy. Riley gets amnesia. How will Abi, Ben, and Ian cope with his loss of memory? Or worse, what will happen when Riley starts to slowly gain it back? Sort of Sequel to Strangest Things
1. The Bad Omen

**Summary:** Featuring good!Ian, because I like the guy. Riley gets amnesia. How will Abi, Ben, and Ian cope with his loss? Or worse, what will happen when he starts to slowly gain it back?

**A/N:** This is set after Strangest Things. Don't worry; you don't have to read it to get what's going n. Just know, Ian's a lot friendlier with the trio since the end of the film.

…Or you can call this an AU where Ian is just an all-around good guy and friends with the family Gates/Poole.

**Disclaimer:** Owning this would be a dream come true. But for nor it's just that, a dream. .:le sigh:. I don't own.

_**To **__**Kaylee**__** (save changes to normal) because she's been the best National Treasure friend a girl could ask for. Thanks for the undying support and the abundance of chapters (that I still have yet to review, sorry!)**_

Chapter 1.

"Why on God's green earth does Abi need a decoration for _Thanksgiving_?" Riley whined, examining the large decoration of a turkey dressed in a Pilgrim getup. "Why, for that matter, does she absolutely 'need' it on the roof?" A white cord protruded out of it, signaling that it lit up, to Riley's utter dismay. The brown-haired geek groaned. That woman just liked making his life difficult.

Ben and Ian, who were sitting at one of the tables in the backyard of Ben's lovely mansion, grinned at the younger man's harping but refused to look up from their work for fear of being forced to listen to more of Riley's rant.

"Guys, can't you please just set this up? I really don't think my geekiness would be able to withstand such hard labor." Riley pleaded, turning on the Look that usually made everyone melt.

"I'm sorry, Riley." Ben began, still flipping intently through a book that lay on the glass (because he certainly wasn't about to look into those captivating baby blues) "You're the one who kept whining about how boring our new treasure hunt was. It's not our fault you got tangled in Abi's holiday-decorating web on one of your 'breaks.'"

"The millionth one today, I might add." Ian interjected.

"Please, I'm begging you. Just put it on the roof and everyone's happy."

"Riley!" Abi said in a tone of anger behind him. The victim of her hanger eeped, surprised. "_Why_ are talking to them when you should be setting that turkey on the roof. Make sure it's center too; I'm not going to have my house looking awkward and askew."

"Right, that would be a travesty…" Riley huffed and looked at the festive bird Abi was referring to. The young man picked up the decoration and Abi walked away pleased with herself. Riley looked after her and immediately set the bird down again once she was out of sight.

"Why can't you guys help me? It's only going to take a second, I swear." Riley tried once more.

"Riley, if it's only going to take a second, why don't you do it?" Ben asked logically, making it a point not to look up from his reading.

Riley sighed heavily once again. Persuading Ben to do something when he was set on doing something else was like trying to move the Great Wall of China: It ain't happening. But that's when Riley tried to work his persistent efforts onto the British gentlemen seated across from his stubborn friend. The young man furrowed his eyebrow and twisted it upward, looking to all the world like a pouting, angelic puppy.

"Ian, can you please help me put this up? I don't think you'll like the odds of me against the roof. There's major wreckage to be done, and I don't mean to the roof. I'm talking about physical harm to yours truly here. Pleeeease, Ian, please, please?"

And that's when Ian made the horrible mistake of actually glancing up from his laptop. That's when the force of the Look hit him head on and everything stopped making sense. At that moment, the only thought going through Ian's head was, "How can I let such a poor and helpless soul down? Look at him! He's hurt."

"Well-I- Okay." Ian finally agreed. The battle never lasted long when Riley's innocent eyes were the opponent.

Riley rejoiced and Ben gawked at Ian. The older treasure protector shook his head in superiority.

"You have a lot to learn, my friend. Abi and I know by now to _never_ look up." Ben said while Ian sneered, getting up from his comfortable position at the table.

* * *

XxxxXXXxxxX

"Just put it on the roof, he said. Psh, a load easier said than done." Ian grumbled quietly in his British accent, straining to climb the length of roof to the _very_ middle.

"Yeah, a little more to the left, buddy." Riley yelled from below.

Ian grunted as he turned around to see the young man barking orders from below while eating a Kit Kat. Where'd he get the candy? Ian might've thought under normal circumstances, but since the man was on a particularly wobbly ladder, the only notion running through Ian's head was why the _heck_ wasn't Riley where he told him to be: holding his ladder still.

"Riley, I hope you are not standing there. Because if you are, you are going to be in a world of pain when I get down, mister. I told you to hold this cheap, decrepit ladder _still_." Before Ian could finish this furious tirade though, the ladder beneath him leaned backward dangerously. Ian held his breath, trying to lean it back against the roof quickly. _This_ was why he hated heights. But Ian's attempt appeared to be in vain, for the wooden piece allowed gravity to do its thing and made its descent towards ground, with a wailing Ian grasping white-knuckled to the handles.

"AAAH!" Riley shouted, watching in horror at the slow-motioned scene before him. His legs kicked in as the ladder reached its halfway mark of the fall. Why Riley started to run, he could never tell you. It really didn't make much a difference when Riley thought about it.

Ian was gripping the handles of the ladder, his life flashing before his eyes as he continued to plummet mercilessly. When he finally reached impact, his eyes were shut so tightly, his lids threatened tearing.

"GAAAAAH!" THUMP! "Oof!"

Ian remained motionless, waiting for death to quickly consume him. Nothing was happening though. He was still, but his hard breathing and his pulsing heart were true signs that he was alive. What had happened? Cracking open an eyelid, only to be met by a glaring afternoon sky, Ian turned to the roof to make sure he hadn't just dreamt the whole nightmare.

No, the ladder was still on him, he noted. He slid it off of him with a groan and hefted himself up with a pained expression. If it wasn't a dream, Ian thought curiously to himself, how was he able to have survived the- He stopped his pondering for a moment as his eyes landed on the formidable sight of Riley's limp form beneath him, face slack, and head in a pool of blood.

"No bloody way…" He managed to gasp out before screaming urgently: "Ben, Abi, quick! I need help!"

In no time at all, the couple was rushing over with anxious looks on their face. They arrived at the emergency scene and both man and woman's expressions turned into that of horror.

"Wha-What happened? Why is he bleeding?" Abi said, falling onto her knees to reach out towards Riley.

"Don't touch him, Abigail." Ian admonished the terrified blonde woman lightly. He looked up at Ben quickly. "We need to call the paramedics; do you have your phone on you?"

Ben was staring down at his young friend with a shocked expression.

"Ben! Call 911!" Ian repeated emphatically, knocking the man out of his stupor.

Ben nodded and shakily retrieved his phone out of his pant pockets.

"Hello, I need an ambulance…"

* * *

XxxxXXXxxxX

Ian, Abi, and Ben sat restlessly in the hospital waiting room. Nobody had spoken much about the incident. Ian had explained to them what had happened and took most of the blame. Abi disagreed and commented tearfully that if she hadn't told Riley to put up the dumb turkey, it wouldn't have escalated to his injury. Ben furthered the disagreement by adding that he should have helped Ian because Riley was obviously incapable of taking care of it by himself, even with Ian's assistance.

"I should've watched out for him…" Ben trailed off heavily.

Ian sighed.

"Ben, Abi, none of us should be trying to assume the responsibility." Ian attempted to reassure rationally. "Had we known this would have happened, I have no doubt we would have done everything in our power to have prevented it. When Riley wakes up, we'll just keep a closer eye on him."

"Ian's right. Riley can act like a careless teenager sometimes. It's those times that he gets distracted and unfocused that he lands himself in messes like these…" Ben added ruefully.

"Then do we all agree that we will stop feeling sorry for ourselves and put more time into looking after Riley?" Ian questioned, looking at the other two pointedly.

Ben nodded and Abi wiped a stray tear before showing her concurrence as well.

The next twenty minutes were spent trying to distract themselves with a Tupperware sale on television.

"How are you? Did the nurses already check out some of your bruises?" Abi asked Ian after she had time to sort her frenzied and worried thoughts.

Ian nodded.

"Yeah, most of them were on my lower back but all other injuries were cushioned by Ri-" Ian stopped short as his guilty thoughts overtook him. Ben and Abi caught it though and Abi immediately regretted the question. "God," Ian whispered remorsefully. It should've been him in the hospital. He could handle it better than Riley.

"Ian, we're glad that you're okay," Abi said sincerely.

"Yeah, and we agreed we'd stop feeling sorry for ourselves." Ben reminded, squeezing Ian's shoulder comfortingly.

Ian nodded, not entirely convinced, as they as crept back into their thickening silence,

Admittedly, ten minutes into this second interlude of quiet, Ben had become somewhat interested in the Tupperware show. They were strong and sturdy and you couldn't lose the cap because every cap fit all the different sizes.

Ben was only happy to finally divert his attention to the doctor walking towards their waiting room with a clipboard in hand.

Dr. Galore was a tall man with a full head of dark gray hair. He wore glasses over his baggy eyes and your basic doctor stuff on his long white coat. He greeted them cordially and looked down at the clipboard.

"Are you Mr. Poole's family?" he asked, examining the three adults who looked nothing like the young man he had been inspecting.

"Um, yes, figuratively speaking." Ben tried to explain. They probably should've thought about this story earlier. "You see, he lives mainly with my wife and I and Ian is a close friend. We all care for him, in a way."

"But you aren't in anyway blood related, is that correct?" the doctor asked, pointing at the three skeptically.

"No, no we're not." Ben said. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Well, in Mr. Poole's case, yes." Dr. Galore stated bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Abi asked quickly with an eyebrow quirked. "What about his case?"

"Mr. Poole has suffered from severe blunt force trauma to his occipital lobe, in other words, the crash has jostled some of his brain's nerves. After regaining consciousness for a total of thirty seconds, Mr. Poole revealed to us that he didn't know who he was, how he had gotten here, and who he was with. He fainted shortly after."

"Does-does this mean he has _amnesia_?" Ian asked, stating the reprehensible news.

Dr. Galore nodded sympathetically.

"Severe retrograde amnesia, to be exact." The doctor accompanied. "It's a form of amnesia that causes the victim to forget key people and events in his life. I haven't had the privilege of speaking with Riley to further diagnose the condition, but it appears obvious that he doesn't remember you, his own identity, or what has happened in the last… I'd have to say five years at worst."

The three let the information sink in and Abi had to sit down from the overwhelming shock.

"Can-Can we see him?" Ben asked hesitantly.

The doctor sighed heavily and Abi looked up from her mourning to await his reply.

"This is where the bad news comes in for most family, or in this case, friends, of the amnesiac victim." Dr. Galore said. "You need to be very careful around Riley. Hugging him or slapping him on the back is fine for long-term relationships, but Riley won't think he's ever had one of those. Victims usually feel embarrassed and stressed about their condition and forcing your memories on him will most likely lead to resentment. Showing him articles and just being a friend will ultimately help him remember though."

"So, how long can you estimate he'll be like this?" Ian asked, hoping for a glimmer of hope in this sad prognosis.

"Amnesia's funny in that it'll be there one moment and suddenly disappear the next. Sometimes it clears up after a week; some cases have lasted as long as a year. With a new medication he's been prescribed, it should help heal any brain damage done."

Ben nodded.

"Is he awake?" he finally asked.

"No," the doctor said. "After he fainted he never woke up again. But you may wait in his room if you like."

"Thank you, doctor." Ian replied in a sad tone.

"Sure." The doctor backed out of the room and went back to his work.

Ben and Ian turned around to face the still weeping Abi.

"This is terrible." She blubbered through her crying. Ben sat down next to her and rubbed soothing circles into her back.

"It's okay, Abigail. We'll help him get through this. You heard what the doctor said, we have to be strong." Ben pointed out.

"I know. It's just; I wish he didn't forget us. He must be so scared." Abi closed her eyes and let a few tears drop.

"Shh, it'll be okay. We're all scared, but it'll go away. Riley is too stubborn to forget any of this for very long." Her husband reassured, grabbing his wife in an affectionate hug. Ian looked on compassionately, somewhat lost in his own distressing thoughts.

"All right, then. Let's go see him." Abi finally said after a moment of composing herself. She hoped they had tissues in his hospital room because this was going to be hard… On everyone.

* * *

XxxxXXXxxxX

**A/N:** Aww, sad, sad, sad. Guess what? It only gets sadder. This is one of my first angsty fics in a long time. And to think it started out on a such a light note! This is pretty short. Sorry. I've already got chapter two in the works and a few more kinks to work out in the story, but I don't think I'll have the strength to continue unless I get some handy-dandy reviews in my inbox. So, please, please, tell me what you think!

**Reviewers will be given a heavy dosage of love, gratitude, and fulfillment in their hearts.**

Thanks for reading,

-Sarah

**Super Secret Preview of the Next Chapter-** Riley: "Who are you? Who am I?" –Wow, who could see _that _coming?


	2. Awakening

**A/N:** Wow, quick update. You have yourselves to thank for that, reviewers. Thank you for the feedback, "You could not have chosen a more grateful subject to bestow such kindness on." –Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Wow, it that ever true! Okay, so yes, this is the second chapter. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Do I look like the kind of person who would own this enormous franchise? .:looks down at wrinkly sweater and mound of homework:. I didn't think so. I do not own National Treasure and all that jazz. Happy?

**Chapter 2.**

XxxxXXXxxxX

Ian entered the room first, subconsciously knocking on the door although the only occupant was deeply sleeping. Ben and Abi followed, holding hands, as they surveyed the resting young man.

Riley looked small on the hospital bed in the blue, backless gown and plaid flannel pants. His stomach rose and fell with the monitor beeping quietly in the background. He had one IV in his arm and Abi winced a little at the blood flowing through it.

Ben and Ian's stomachs were churning as they watched the young man, abhorring the time when he would wake up but at the same time wishing Riley's return to the land of the living. It seemed so long ago that they had heard his laugh or seen his smile. Would they ever see or hear it again now that this Riley would be an empty, amnesiac shell of his former self? The question itched at their minds on how they would deal with this Riley but neither would ever front the contemplation.

"He looks good," Ian said optimistically, stepping closer to sit in the chair beside the head of Riley's bed. Abi and Ben substituted for standing on the other side. Abi reached down and brushed his unruly brown hair out of his face.

"Yeah," Abi agreed, although Riley still had lightly evident cuts on his face and body. She turned away, hoping to get her mind of the subject and looked out the large window at the evening sky. It was a nice view of the surrounding area. Snow had been falling all week long in their cozy Boston town and everything was blanketed in white. Riley's room was on the fifth floor thus giving them a bird's view of the streets and people. Abi shrugged her sweater on instinctively at the sight.

Ben was still coming to grips with his best friend in this condition and so smiled slightly and nodded. The air was becoming thick with their unspoken thoughts of worry and pain to the point that Ian stood up and suggested he pick up coffee for the three of them.

"It's going to be a long night so there's no sense in being asleep when he wakes up." Ian pointed out, although it was really just an excuse to leave the suffocating environment. He liked Riley for a hundred different reasons. One of the major ones was for the relief he provided in these overpowering circumstances, but with said person being knocked unconscious, there was no use in torturing yourself in a room full of angst-filled loved ones, was there?

Ben watched Ian leave, completely understanding his position. He was actually surprised the blonde man had lasted so long in the waiting room with the two of them. It had to be hard dealing with so much guilt. If Riley were awake and well, he would have forgiven Ian immediately, shrugging it off as a mere accident. It would be a lot harder to rid the guilt this time though, Ben realized, fiddling with the brochures the nurse had handed him.

"Helping Them Remember" "Keeping It at Their Pace" and other such titles. Ben felt tears pricking at his eyes but refused to let them fall. Riley would be okay. They'll get through this. He kept telling himself. He took Ian's chair by the bed and settled in for the reading. Abi had sat on the window seat and continued to study the land below, stopping to stare at the bedridden young man at small intervals.

XxxxXXXxxxX

My eyes fluttered opened slowly and I didn't have a thought in my head. One quick look at the hospital room and that quickly changed. My mind started buzzing with questions, but I didn't dare voice them nor move or else the two strangers would notice me. There was a man with brown hair reading pamphlets and a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair sitting while looking out the large window. Besides the obvious questions of who they were, I was wildly obsessed with finding out how I got in this-this place and figuring out who I was.

Suddenly, a blonde man entered with a cup holder and drinks in hand. His eyed quickly flew to me and he smiled.

"Oh, you're awake!" he exclaimed in a snooty British accent. I wanted to shush him but it was too late; the two strangers had already spun around and broken out into smiles at me. The British blonde man approached me and I sat up to back away fearfully. His smile faltered at this movement and I realized I had hurt his feelings. Well, I'm sorry Mr. Stranger but you hurt mine by acting like I was your best friend foreverest.

The brown-haired man had stood and placed a hand up as if to say to both of them to not come too close, which was nice. He kept his distance and I gradually relaxed although I was still plotting escape through the door. I itched at something on my arm and looked down at the red tube protruding from it. What the? Why did I have blood being transfused to me? All plans of escape were put on hold as my mind fiddled with the idea that these people had put me in this… Hospital? Is that what it was called? Yes.

"Riley, do you know who I am?" the brown-haired guy asked... Me? Was I Riley? I stopped pondering this name to gaze hesitantly into his eyes. He looked very pleading, as if begging me to remember. I could honestly say I hadn't seen this dude in my life.

"No," I said, and his blue eyes went downcast. "I-I'm sorry." I added.

"Do you remember any of us?" The blonde British guy asked me. I really wanted to say something besides no, but none of these faces were familiar. I was beginning to wish I did as each one of their faces seemed to plead with me to say yes.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who you are. Any of you." I answered, looking round at each one of their disappointed faces. I wondered if they would get mad. I noticed I had cuts and bruises all over my arms and wondered briefly if they had given it to me out of anger. No, no, they couldn't have. Could they?

"That's all right, Riley." The blonde-haired woman said. I had already made up names for them in my mind based on what they were wearing, probably so I could have something to identify them with. Maybe then they wouldn't be so hurt. The brown haired man was Read, the blonde haired man was Brit, and the blonde haired woman was Tweed because that's what her jacket was made out of.

"Am I Riley?" I asked slowly. I sounded stupid but I wanted to be careful around these three in case they got mad about all my questions.

"Yes," Tweed answered, nodding and stepping closer. I fidgeted a little, trying to make it seem like I wasn't trying to scoot farther back, but merely get more comfortable. Riley was a good name. I liked it. I was going to name myself Snowflake but it seemed a bit racist towards myself.

"You must have a lot of questions," Brit pointed out. Now how would he know that?

"Yeah, do you want us to answer any?" Read asked.

I wanted to know how I got here, but I was afraid they might get mad at me for not knowing. It was obviously recent since all of my cuts and bruises looked new, but I didn't want them getting angry because of my snooping.

"C'mon, go ahead. We know you have a lot of questions." Tweed said, with a small smile.

I nodded lightly. Okay, screw it; I was going in for the kill.

"Am I in here because of you guys? Did you give me these bruises and cuts?" Wow, that sounded a lot more STUPID than I thought it would. I noticed each one of their faces contort into expressions of hurt and confusion. Tweed was getting especially emotional. She finally stuck with a "How could you think that?" expression. Brit and Read's looks looked… Guilty? Wait a second; were they guilty of putting me in here? I noticed I was small and they were much larger so it wasn't _unlikely_. I suddenly felt the need to rip out my IV and rush for the door, but dumb Brit was blocking my way.

"Riley, no. We are your best friends." Read began. This was certainly news to me. Although I couldn't be sure who my best friends were, I was certain it wasn't this odd trio. Wouldn't my best friends be in my age range? These three looked to be in their thirties and forties! "You are our best friend too. We would never, ever hurt you. You had a really bad accident and bumped your head. Now you can't remember stuff."

I got it now. I didn't remember the incident but it made sense that I lost my memories. I wish I hadn't forgotten that particular memory because everybody looked very hurt and broken-up about my question. Again, especially Tweed.

"Do you have any other questions?" Brit asked painfully as if he really didn't want to answer them.

"Who am I?" I asked. I was really curious. The only thing I had was Riley and that wasn't much to build on.

"You're Riley," Read pointed out. I wanted to reply sarcastically but I was still afraid of everyone in the room so I substituted for elaborating.

"No, I mean what do I do?"

"You, um, you work on computers a lot." Brit supplied.

"Computers? What are those?" I asked, genuinely confused. I heard a chorus of gasps and looked around. "Why are you so surprised?"

"You were always on computers before. It's hard to believe you don't remember one." Brit explained.

I nodded. I wasn't very good at this question and answer thing. I wanted to reverse the roles and start asking them questions but I knew I wouldn't be able to answer them. This was frustrating.

"Anything else?" Tweed asked hopefully.

"Can I go home?" I asked. It was a question that had been bugging me since I woke up. I wanted to go home so I could be in a place I knew was familiar. I didn't know what home looked like but once I saw it I was sure I would recognize it. I just needed to see it…

XxxxXXXxxxX

Read was driving the car and Brit was sitting on the passenger side in front of me. Tweed was babbling on about how I was always such a good helper around the home and how I once found a really big treasure. Everyone seemed to be talking to me like I was a little kid so, assuming "big treasure" meant that I helped her find her lost necklace; I tuned her out to look outside the window of the big car.

The buildings were really large and people were bundled-up everywhere with five or six shopping bags apiece.

"Why are there so many people with bags?" I interrupted Tweed who was rambling on about how smart I was. I was sorry to disappoint her with all of my questions but I couldn't stop them from coming out once they were in my mind.

"That's because the day after Thanksgiving is a day that people shop a lot." Tweed replied, looking out the window to spot the shoppers too.

"Why do they shop a lot?" I asked inquisitively.

"There are a lot of sales, and they want to be ready for Christmas." Tweed said.

"So… What's Christmas and what's Thanksgiving?" I finally asked. Brit had been sipping tea in the front and I suddenly heard him coughing. Tweed's expression was one of question. "Are you really that stupid that you don't know what Christmas and Thanksgiving are?" I could see her thinking. Her face went back to normal and she plastered on a pretty smile.

"They're days when people eat food and get presents." She said.

"Why?" I asked. It sounded fun but what was the point?

"Because it's tradition." Read had said as Tweed seemed to be having difficulty explaining. "We do it every year to enjoy our time together as a family."

"Do _we_ do it every year?" I asked. I really hoped Read said yes because it sounded like a time that I could start making new memories since I didn't remember my old ones. Even if it was with people I didn't really know.

"Of course." All three of them said at the same time. Yes! I smiled, which made Tweed smile for real. She really liked seeing me smile for some reason…

A half hour later, we were in front of a large estate with a long straight driveway. There was a pretty red car in the front. I asked immediately whose it was and Tweed said it was mine which made me smile again.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door and started rushing towards my car. I didn't get very close to it because Brit had grabbed my arm tightly and spun me around.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a look of worry on my face. "Were you trying to escape, Riley?"

"No," I said, shaking my head quickly, trying to take my arm away. His grip wouldn't let up though. "Tweed said this was my car and I want to drive it."

"I'm sorry, Riley, but you can't," Brit said, beginning to lead me away. I saw Tweed and Read watching me from the car worriedly. I dug my heels in the ground though, stopping Brit from his pulling.

"Why not? You said it was my car! I want to drive it!" I explained. What was so hard to understand?

"Riley, you may not drive that car or any car for that matter. Not until you get better. It's just not safe for you." There he went again: talking to me like I was some six-year-old. Why did all of them think I was going to hurt myself? I was brain damaged, not retarded. These people were not getting on my good side…

XxxxXXXxxxX

**A/N:** I hate those ominous cliffhangers but I couldn't help it. Hmm, this chappie is slightly short, but not too bad. I'll update again soon though, no worries. Thank you so much for all of your reviews. They were fantabulously wonderful and I appreciated every last bit! Please, do it again, please!

Have nice days,

-Sarah


	3. Awkward Homecoming

**A/N:** Sorry this one took so long. I went on vacation for a week and now I'm feeling ill. Oh, by the way, I'd love to hear your guys thoughts on the movie. I, for one, loved it. I'm a bit biased though. I am writing fanfiction about it after all… Ah well, I hope to hear more from you guys because you people rock my socks!

**Disclaimer:** In another wonderful, exceedingly exuberant life, maybe I did own National Treasure. But in this depressing one, I don't.

**Chapter ****the Third**

XxxxXXXxxxX

Riley allowed Ian to lead him away from the car. The young man pulled his arm away once they were a safe distance away from the vehicle before climbing up the steps to the house. Riley was looking curiously at everything they passed, with eyes as big as saucers. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't persist to touch everything he saw. From thorns on the rose bush to the bees who were gathering pollen, Ben and Ian had a tough time pulling Riley's hands away from everything.

Once Abigail opened the door to the house, she realized what a big threat her own home played to Riley's physical safety. As they walked to kitchen, Riley had paused to touch the silverware laid out on the ornate dining room table, pricking himself on the steak knife at one of the place settings.

"Ah," he winced. Taking his finger and sucking on it. Ben turned around.

"What happened?" He asked, badly concealing his exasperation. He loved Riley, really he did. But the young man's inquisitive alter ego was really starting to annoy.

"That knife hurt me." Riley said, pointing to the knife on the table.

"Don't touch those. They're bad and they can hurt you." Ben explained urgently as he plucked the sharp objects out of each of the place settings. "Just stay away from these."

Ian had an equally difficult time with Riley as the young man persisted to touch everything, including his paper he had left on the breakfast nook some days before. While Abi was fixing some lunch and Ben had gone upstairs to "Riley-proof" a guest bedroom, Ian had settled down to watch Riley as he worked. After all, they had agreed to keep a closer eye on him.

Riley sat across from Ian at the table and noticed he wasn't doing much of anything except for look outside. The next moment though, he had papers in front of him which he was scribbling on. Ian's eyes widened and he looked down.

"Are those-?" Ian asked, realizing all-to-late that those were his papers Riley was destroying. "Riley! What are you doing? Don't just grab things and start drawing on them. That's very bad."

Riley had frozen and carefully placed the pen down to curl his fingers into loose fists.

"I'm sorry." The young man said. "I didn't know they were important. They said 'Museum of American History' and that didn't really important so I thought it would be okay…" He trailed off, looking down.

Ian let a heavy sigh escape his mouth. He wasn't used to a situation like this. Sure, Riley was a bit childish at times, but it was the funny, sarcastic childish that most people got a kick out of. This, Ian was not finding funny in the least.

"If you want to do or touch anything, ask me, Ben, or Abi first, all right?"

"Who?" Riley said with a questioning look.

"Oh good Lord, we didn't tell you are names?" Ian asked incredulously.

"No. But that's okay; I already made up names for you guys."

This seemed to surprise Ian noticeably.

"Really? What's mine?"

"Brit." Riley answered after a moment of apprehension. He was still shaken up about the document incident.

"Heh," Ian said, with a smile tugging at his lips. A bit of Riley's original personality shown through the name as that was what Riley found to be Ian's most prominent feature. "What did you come up with for Ben and Abi?"

"The blonde lady is Tweed because of her jacket, and the brown-haired guy's name is Read because he was reading stuff when I first woke up." Riley said, realizing his own unoriginality.

Ian, on the other hand, found the names somewhat endearing and smiled affectionately.

"Well, if it suits you then you can use it. I don't mind." Ian said.

"Thanks," Riley said with a small smile. Ian had yet to see his smile since the young man had woken up and it warmed his heart more than he knew it would just to look at it again. A smile matching Riley's own subconsciously spread across his face.

They swept into silence once again as Ian continued to type into his laptop.

"What is that?" Riley said after a few moments. It seemed he had the same problem keeping his mouth shut just as he originally did. Ian looked up, a hint of impatience in his eyes. "Is it a book?"

"Not exactly." Ian said, turning his laptop around. It was weird to be explaining the interworking of Riley's specialty to Riley himself. "Do you remember what I mentioned to you in the hospital yesterday? About computers?"

"You said I was good at them," Riley said with bright eyes, happy to remember something. "Is this what I was good at?"

Riley was rubbing the sides of the keyboard, looking at the fascination of technology.

"Yeah, you were especially good at making models and designing programs with it." Ian said, hoping to jog Riley's memory.

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds cool." Riley stated, still gazing at the luminescent screen, enchanted.

"It was cool. You're tracking model helped us find a really big treasure." Ian said. Riley looked up at Ian exasperatedly once he said this. Ian looked back confused. "What? What's wrong?"

"You're what's wrong! You and Tweed and Read keep talking to me like some little kid." Riley fumed. He didn't know why he was letting himself get like this but it seemed natural to come right out and speak his mind. "You don't have to say 'big treasure' when you mean Tweed's necklace or your long-lost sister."

Ian hadn't realized he had been talking to Riley in such a manner, but, looking back, it was easy to see that he, Abi and Ben, had been speaking to him as if he had regressed in mind. True, Riley had lost some of his memories and was highly inquisitive about things he didn't know, but that didn't mean he a six-year-old. Ian just needed to get used to the fact that there was a grown man who needed to be told right from wrong once in awhile.

"I'm sorry for my behavior. I was just… Confused, for lack of better word. But, Riley, we really did find a rather big treasure. How else do you think we live in such a large estate?"

Riley looked around curiously. The house was quite large, but then again, so was everything else.

"Sorry, I didn't realize. I don't have much to compare this too." He shrugged. "But you're serious about this treasure thing? We actually found, like, real buried treasure because of my cracking nodule?"

"Tracking model, and, yes. Well, and no. You're model actually led us to a clue, and then another clue, and then another, and another-"

"That sounds annoying." Riley interrupted.

"Oh, don't worry; you voiced your opinion quite plainly on the subject. All trips in car, bus, train, and snowmobile were, with the better half, _filled_ with your complaints." Ian said with a reminiscing and teasing smile.

This statement made Riley blush a bit and bite his lip to force back a smile. He looked up at Ian.

"Can I touch the keys?" Riley asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, why not?" Ian answered.

"You said that I can't do anything unless I ask you, Read, and Tweed." Riley pointed out.

"Ugh, when I get angry, I just say nonsense. Everyone does." Ian shrugged, waving a disarming hand. He noticed Riley's confused expression and decided to clear things up a bit. "But you should ask us when you're about to do something dangerous, because we care about you and don't want you to get hurt."

"Then how did I get hurt before?" Riley asked innocently.

Ian paused as he looked into the blissfully ignorant face. It wasn't accusing or anything but the words cut deeper than anything Ian had heard before. _"You were trying to save me and I accidentally knocked you out in the process. That's why you can't remember anything."_ The truth stung at his throat, but he was intent on making sure they never made it out of his mouth.

"We weren't keeping a very good eye on you," Ian tried, fiddling with a nail. "But that's all going to change now. We'll make sure you're safe and out of danger."

Riley nodded before pecking at one of the keys. He gaped a little as it showed up on the screen.

"Look. It's on this side now." Riley said excitedly, pointing at the three letters he had pressed on the screen.

"Yes, that's called typing. You did a lot of it." Ian nodded.

Ben suddenly reappeared in a dark brown sweater and grabbed the back of Riley's chair.

"Do you want to come up and see your room?" Ben asked.

"Umm…" Riley had instinctively scooted up a bit from Ben's gesture. "Brit was showing me this computer. Can I play with it?"

Ben didn't hear the last part of the sentence as he was too busy laughing at the first. He stared at Ian amusedly.

"Did you seriously introduce yourself to him as Brit? That's a bit stereotypical, even for you."

"Ha, ha, yes, it's a laugh. But, no, Riley made up the nickname. He made one for all of us."

"Really?" Ben said, looking down at the embarrassed young man beneath him. "What did you call me?"

"You name's Read. Because he saw you reading stuff when he first woke up." Ian explained since Riley was too busy ducking his head.

Ben found the moniker cute as well so he laughed and ruffled Riley's hair.

"So, can I?" Riley said, looking up.

"Can you what?" Ben asked confused. "You never ask to do anything…"

"Ian said I had to." Ian's mouth twitched. In the past, Riley barely gave a side-glance at what anybody told him to do. They were too busy taking orders from him. Ben knew this and stifled a chuckle. "Can I play with the computer?"

"Maybe after lunch, Riley." Ben said. Riley's face fell. For some reason, he really wanted to play with the computer. He played with the theory that it was because he was so attached to technology before his accident, but Ben continued. "For now, why don't we go upstairs and give you a tour?"

"Okay." Riley replied reluctantly, even though he really wanted to continue pressing the buttons on the laptop. He made it obvious by answering slowly and sending wistful gazes at the piece of technology.

"Don't worry; it'll be here when you get back." Ian said, with a nod to go with Ben.

Riley bobbed his head and followed Ben up the stairs.

XxxxXXXxxxX

"This is my and Abi's room," Read said, opening one of the dark wooden French doors to a beautifully decorated room. "Abi is really good at designing stuff. She decorated this whole house and drew that mural there." I looked up at the window-shaped painting of a three birds with leaves in their mouth.

"That's pretty," I complimented, even though I didn't really believe it. Read must've known this because he looked at me strangely.

"Really? Before, you used to hate it. You said it was as if Da Vinci puked on our wall." Read said, grinning for some reason. I think he was starting to miss the old me.

"Who's Da Vinci?" I asked.

"Nevermind. Your room's over here." He said, diverting my attention to a dark wooden door to our right. Inside was a room decorated in a lot of green, light brown, and gray. There were a lot of swirls on the bedspread and wallpaper to match. I liked it because it had a computer next to one of the walls. This computer was bigger than the one Brit showed me though. I walked over to play with it but Read had grabbed the back of my shirt to stop me. I growled and looked back at him irritated. "Let's get you settled in first, all right?"

He led me over to the bed on the west side of the room. He laid a suitcase on the spread and unzipped it revealing clothes and a red car that looked like the one out front.

"Can I see this?" I asked, looking up at Read. I didn't want to grab it only to have it taken away from me. Everybody seemed to be doing that a lot, taking things away, and it was really starting to aggravate me.

"Sure. It's your car." Read supposed with a shrug.

"But the one in the front was my car too and Ian told me I couldn't play with it." I alleged defensively.

"Yes, but that car was a lot bigger and more dangerous. We don't want you getting hurt." There they went again. If they weren't talking to me like I was some toddler, they were trying to protect me from seemingly harmless stuff. I had seen Read do it before; driving looked easy enough. I decided to keep this argument to myself though as I picked up the red car and put it on the pillow. "These are your clothes. We'll put them in here and you can pick the ones you want to wear each morning."

He grabbed a stack of shirts and opened the top drawer to place the articles in. I noticed there were a lot hoodies in the pile and chose out a dark blue one. At the moment I was wearing a green one Tweed had given me at the hospital, but I switched them out. Read turned around and looked at me.

"Were you wearing something else-?" I smiled mischievously and he shook his head and chuckled. "Okay then. I think we're done in here. And I can smell that Abi's done with her cooking. C'mon let's go downstairs."

I nodded and turned around to grab the red car. On the back in tiny letters it read Ferrari; I liked the name best and rolled its wheels on my hand as Read and I made our way back to the breakfast nook.

Tweed was getting mad at Brit for putting his work on the table. She had a tasty-smelling dish in her hand that emitted a lot of steam. I found a seat next to Brit, mostly because I wanted to touch his computer but partly because he had grown on me a little. Although he sounded snooty, Brit was pretty cool.

Tweed set the dish down and spooned a helping onto my dish. I looked at it a bit skeptically. Sure, it smelt good, but it looked disgusting.

"It's green bean casserole, your favorite." Tweed said, sitting down in her seat to giver herself a portion.

I looked up at her and then back at the plate with the slimy green thing with brown stuff on it. I think I would recall if something this gross was my favorite food… I spotted Brit and Read glancing up at me between bites, probably wondering if I was going to eat it. I sighed, and carefully took a bite.

I cringed when it entered my mouth, but once it was swallowed, it actually tasted pretty good.

"See?" Tweed said, kindly smiling.

We ate in silence for a moment, the only sound being the tapping of our silverware on the plates, when Brit raised a question.

"We should do something fun to help Riley remember better. Does that sound good?" Brit asked, more to his two friends than to me.

"Yeah, but what should we do?" Read asked quizzically while between bites. I took a drink of my water, speculating if they were going to ask me anything. It's not like they could. I didn't even know what my definition of "fun" would be.

"I heard of a Santa Claus fair in town. That should be nice." Tweed proffered. "The flyer was hanging on our doorknob."

"Santa who?" I asked.

Everybody seemed to look at me as if I was joking. Problem was, I was completely serious. My face warmed up in embarrassment and I ducked my head. God, I wish I remembered what Santa was.

"Santa Claus is kind of the symbol of Christmas. He wears a red suit, has a big white beard, and drops down chimneys to give kids presents." Read explained to the best of his ability.

"Really?" I asked.

"No, he's made up." Brit said, turning to me.

"Ah." I replied, stabbing one of the green beans. God, I felt stupid and annoying. These complete strangers at least had the decency of treating my nicely, I could at least stop with the questions that even your basic three-year-old knew. I sighed heavily. I hated how cold and alone I felt even though it seemed my every move was being watched by three pairs of eyes. I just wanted that sense of familiarity.

"Don't worry, Riley." Brit said, laying a hand on my back that made me flinch a little. "We can all go together this weekend. You'll have loads of fun."

I wasn't sure I believed that.

XxxxXXXxxxX

**A/N:** Ack, short! I'll have the next chapter up soon, reviews really help to speed up the process though, just to drop one of the least subtle hints on the planet.

Have nice days,

-Sarah


	4. Trip Down Memory Lane

XxxxXXXxxxX

"Are you sure it's safe for Riley to go out in public?" Abi asked as she slipped a silky camisole over her thin frame in her and her husband's room. "What if he starts hyperventilating and faints again?"

Ben simply shrugged as he walked into their adjoining bathroom.

"I think he'll be all right, but I'm packing his inhaler just in case." Ben said, scrambling through their medicine cabinet where they kept Riley's spare medication.

"Speaking of which, have you been giving Riley his prescription?" Abi asked as she took off the camisole in favor of another shirt.

"Yeah, I picked it up on the day he got back and have been giving it to him twice a day like the label says."

"Any luck?" She asked, buttoning the flowery top.

"He knows how to type better, if that's any consolation." Ben mumbled the last part, fixing his hair in the mirror.

"How very fortunate for his computer but no use to us." Abi said huffily. She checked herself over in the mirror and was just about to slip on her jeans when Riley opened the door dressed in his hoodie, jeans, gloves, and beanie. "Riley!"

Riley's eyes widened and he quickly slammed the door. They could hear running down the hall and the slam of the main bathroom door.

Abi just looked at the door stunned, holding her jeans protectively in front of her. She looked over at her husband who wore a slightly miffed expression.

"Did you have to act so shocked?" he asked. "He didn't know you were in here like this and anyways, Abi, he's seen you in your bathing suit before."

This time it was Abi's turn to look angry. Her eyes darkened and she pursed her lips in a thin line.

"Ben, I was surprised. You can't get mad at me for being caught off guard without any pants on." She yelled angrily at the man. "He should have knocked. You don't lose your logic when you get amnesia, you lose your memory! You can't keep defending him like this! He's not a child!"

"He didn't know better." Ben ground out, looking determined. Riley was still his best friend and would protect him, especially in this state. "I'm going to go talk to him."

"He'll be fine, Ben, and I'm not finished here." She yelled. Ben ignored her though and walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. Rapping on the door, Ben leaned against it to hear any sounds. He could hear Riley sniffing on the other side pitifully.

The treasure protector would never admit it to anybody, but he had been hearing the same sounds from Riley's room these past few days. At night, he would walk over to Riley's makeshift room to check on him only to hear the faint sounds of sobbing. Every night he would get cold, hard evidence of just how tough this all was on the poor kid, and it broke Ben's heart more than he could imagine. He loved his wife, more than anything else in the world, but it was it was his innate reflex to protect what he cared for most when it was in danger. Whether that be treasure or his best friend, Ben would do everything in his power to make sure it wasn't hurt.

"I'm sorry," he could hear Riley say fearfully on the other side. Ben leaned his forehead against the door sympathetically. He couldn't deal with this.

"Riley, no, it's okay. Abi was just a little surprised. No harm done, you see?" Ben attempted to reassure. It was obviously going to take a lot more than just that though.

"I could hear her yelling though. You guys were arguing." Riley said, voice straining against the lump in his throat.

"Abi-Abi was just…" Ben was having difficulty coming up with an excuse.

"See!" Riley said, swiftly catching Ben in his lie. "She was mad."

"No, she wasn't." Ben tried again, sounding deliberate. "Not at you anyway. She was yelling at me."

"Why?" Riley's favorite question rung through the wooden door into Ben's ear. The young man must have said it over one hundred times these past few days.

"Because I was accusing her," The answer seemed to roll of his tongue, but he only realized the truth in it two seconds later.

"Why were you accusing her? It wasn't her fault." A voice of reason asked on the other side of the door. "I was just stupid enough to forget to knock."

"You aren't stupid. You're smarter than me, actually. It wasn't her fault."

"Of course it wasn't her fault, and, yes, I am stupid. Stop trying to tell me I'm not. I may not remember who you are or who I am, but I know for pretty darn sure that I'm not supposed to barge in on a lady dressing." Riley was happy there was a door blocking Ben's view of him or he would see the blush spreading across Riley's pallid cheeks. That, and his puffy eyes and red nose.

Ben wiped a hand across his face slowly. For being so smart, he could really get himself stuck in the stupidest situations.

"Riley, why don't you finish getting ready? I need to talk with Abigail." Ben said, walking back to his room. He knew it was redundant to leave these past two conversations halfway through but his plans had been pretty half-baked since his friend's accident.

Ben walked into the room to find Abi fiddling with her wedding ring and sitting on the bed with a gloomy look upon her face. He compressed the other side of the bed, looking at her apologetically.

"Abi, I'm sorry." Ben said. She turned to him, clasping her hands together and raising an eyebrow.

"I'm… Kinda sorry too. I was overreacting a bit." Abi said, looking down at the wrinkled comforter.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't be dropping everything to protect Riley. Especially since he's beyond this sort of thing." Ben muttered just loud enough for his wife to hear.

"Is he all right?" Abi asked, flicking her eyes up to look at him genuinely curious.

"I think so. He's pretty stressed out, forgetting everything does that to you." Ben said, causing Abi's mouth to twitch a little. She bit back the grin quickly, feeling sheepish for smiling at Riley's expense.

"Don't make me do that." She said, slapping her husband playfully. "It's mean towards Riley."

"Yeah, you can make it up to him though. The kid still thinks you're mad, and everything I'm saying just isn't getting through to him."

Abbie looked sorry and nodded before standing.

"The bathroom?" she asked.

"Yeah." Ben affirmed.

She left and a little while later returned with a clear-faced and happy Riley.

"You good?" Ben inquired concernedly.

Riley smiled in answer.

"Great. Are we ready to go?" He asked, looking expectantly at the pair.

"I am," Abi said, looking cozy in her puffy jacket, snow boots, hat, mittens, and ear muffs.

"Me too." Riley said, in nothing more than his hoodie.

"Uh, no, you're not." Abi said, staring critically at his so-called snow appropriate outfit.

Ben snorted at his wife's obvious logic and Riley scowled, looking down.

"Well, I'm not about to wear forty-five sweatshirts." Riley retorted. "It's not that cold; it's still November for crying out loud."

"Get a clue, Riley. You're not going out in 0 degree weather in just a hoodie. Go grab a coat from Ben's closet."

"But it'll be too big." Riley whined, crossing his arms vehemently.

Ben would support Abi in this decision if he wasn't too busy laughing at how familiar this scene was. God, he never would have thought he would be thankful for their bickering but the scene almost brought tears to his eyes he missed it so badly.

"Riley, I have a smaller one that you can wear," Ben assured. Riley snapped his head at him, as if the man had just betrayed him.

"Fine then." Riley said, marching to the closet in a huff.

Abi was smirking.

"I missed that." She said.

"Me too."

XxxxXXXxxxX

I put on the coat. Pshaw, smaller my left foot! The coat was massive. Read was massive compared to me. The sleeves ran past my hands and the coat itself hung past my waist. I had the inborn sense to continue whining about it for some reason, but somehow knew Read and Tweed would ignore me. That was weird… Maybe it was a memory of things past? If it was, it was a sour one at best.

I walked out of the room and Read and Tweed smothered their giggling through their hands at the sight of me. I growled but Read walked over and rolled up the sleeves.

"See that isn't so bad." He said. "Look at the bright side: at least you won't catch a cold."

"With a coat this big, I'm pretty sure I'll catch everything." I said. The husband and wife chuckled and their laughs made me feel warm. Huh, that was weird. I really liked making them entertained.

Abi and Ben went downstairs but I took a pit stop at my room to grab my car. I had been talking to it a lot lately, however lame that sounds. I would confide in the others but I still felt a little uncomfortable around them. Wouldn't you if someone knew more about you then you know about yourself? I realize talking to a toy car sounds over and beyond dim-witted but I just needed someone, or in this case, something, that knew about as much about life as I did.

I placed the trusty car in my backpack Read had given me. He said his wife had assembled it. Inside was all the medicine they had me on (painkillers, two medicine bottles for the amnesia, and now an inhaler? Is that what it was called?), a water bottle for the pills, and a card with emergency stuff on it.

"Give this to a police officer if you ever get lost and we'll find you," Read had instructed handing the plastic covered rectangle to me.

I looked at it for a second before throwing it back in. There was a cell phone in there too but Read told me not to use it unless I really had to. He didn't want me wasting the minutes because he said I usually did waste them with all my talking. I frowned. I didn't talk that much.

I slung the straps around my shoulders and headed downstairs, spotting Brit drinking tea at the bottom landing.

"Hello, Riley." Brit greeted, smiling at me. "How are you feeling?"

He asked me this the most. My usual answer was that my head hurt; an answer which usually had me taking one more painkiller than what I needed under Brit's orders. The painkillers made me tired and irritable so I lied a bit.

"Oh great, yep, awesome." I fibbed although my head was pestering me especially resolute this morning.

"Glad to hear it." He said, raising his mug in cheers. "Have you regained any memories yet?"

"I don't think so." I said uncertainly. If you counted the vague feelings I'd been getting in the past hour memories, then yeah, I suppose.

"Have you been taking your prescription?" He queried, looking at me steadily. I cringed. Danggit, I fell into that one!

"Yeah, Ben's been giving it to me, and I can't take any more than two a day." I added quickly. He nodded perceptively, catching my more than obvious hint.

"Are we ready to go?" Read asked for the second time that day, closely followed.

"Yep," I replied. Brit led me out the door as if I had somehow forgotten where it was. I hated when they did that. All three of these people were guilty of it too. Tweed was constantly reminding me to do something I already knew how to do (which made me want to do it less) and Read was constantly reminding me to not do this or that (which made me want to do it more). And, as you might have already guessed, Brit thought I was incapable of the smallest things.

I tugged my arm away harshly and climbed into the back seat while Brit walked around to enter through the other side, Read and Tweed getting the front.

I removed my backpack while Read turned on the car and rode out of the long driveway. The drive to the fair was pretty long and I passed the minutes amusing myself with my toy car since there wasn't much in my backpack to entertain myself with. I probably should have packed a book but I those things made my eyes itch with tiredness.

I asked Brit, who was talking on the phone with someone, if I could use his laptop but he gave me one of these glares which I returned with my own. His was, of course, scarier so I backed down and continued rolling my boring red car across my hand. I'd lost all amusement with it forty minutes ago and we'd only been on the road for ten.

I sighed a few times, made a weird noise with my tongue, and started a beat with my car on the seat before Brit snatched it away. I protested but he pointed a warning finger at me, telling me to be quiet. I sulked for the next two minutes. Brit finally finished talking and snapped his cell phone shut.

"Give me my car back," I ordered, placing my open palm out.

"Ben, why did you give him this?" Brit asked, ignoring my demand and opening one of the doors to my miniature Ferrari. "He's grown an abnormal attachment to it. Are you sure that's healthy?"

"It's healthy," I objected hotly, trying to grab for it. Brit slapped away my reach though.

"Let's see how long you can last without it then, shall we?" Brit proposed, holding the car up and looking at me daringly.

"No way." I immediately declined with a defiant look. "I'm not taking your challenge just because you're impatient. Give me back my car."

"See, Ben? He's completely rabid without his toy. How could you let this happen?" Brit said. I growled, infuriated at the man next to me. I wanted to strangle him with the seatbelt but thought better of it.

"Fine." I grounded out. "I'll go without it for one day but then you have to give it back."

"Fine." He stated simply, looking pompous like he'd won the fight. He slipped the car into his coat pocket and my eye twitched noticeably.

"We're here." Tweed announced. The husband and wife had largely been ignoring the argument in the back seat. I looked at the fair through the front window and gasped loudly.

There was a huge wheel with tons of people on it. I asked Tweed about it and she explained that it was a Ferris wheel. We all exited the car and bought tickets into the park, all the while with me staring at the "Ferris wheel" with an awed expression upon my face.

Little kids ran around the place. There were a lot of games and other rides lined up against the gates. It smelt of sugar and cinnamon, which made my stomach growl, reminding me that I had forgotten to eat that morning.

"Do you want to ride it?" Read said, noticing my eyes latching on to the huge wheel once again. I shook my head quickly. He looked at me a little concerned. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just- I think I'm afraid of heights." I admitted, looking down.

"What do you mean you 'think' you're afraid?"

"Well, I don't know if I really am or not... Was I afraid of them before?" I asked. At this question, Read seemed to look a little guilty. He definitely knew something I didn't (which wasn't really breaking news, if you thought about it.). I wanted to ask him about it but he turned away and whispered something to Tweed who nodded.

"Um, Riley, why don't you hang out with Ian?" Tweed said, looking to Ian who had become distracted momentarily by a game in one of the booths. He looked at her questioningly. "Ian, Riley is afraid of heights, remember? So he can't go on the Ferris wheel with Ben and me."

There it was again! Brit was making the exact same guilty face as Read was! What heights had to do with it, I had no clue. Brit only nodded mechanically at Tweed's forceful words.

"Yeah, sure, I'll stay down here with him." Brit said in this fake tone, placing an arm around my shoulder. I resisted the urge to shrug it off as Read and Tweed made their way over to the death trap. Brit turned to me, "How 'bout a game?"

I nodded and he handed my backpack to me, which I had accidentally left behind in the car (good thing Read didn't notice), to pull out his wallet. We strode over, avoiding small groups of children, to the game stall. He handed a five dollar bill to the lady running this cowboy shooting game, and, in return, was handed a toy gun to shoot the outlaws with. I watched in amazement as he masterfully handled the gun, just like the action movie Read and I were watching together the other day.

I watched with amazement as he shot two cowboys in the head with no misses. I glanced over at him to better study his form (since my turn was next) when I noticed something familiar about the whole thing. My heart started beating as I strained my mind for what was so memorable about Brit.

I couldn't place my finger on it. It was frustrating! I continued to stare intensely as Ian focused and shot the gun clasped in his right hand. I couldn't take my eyes off of him if I tried. This image- what made it so darn recognizable? I heard my heart beating in my ear. I had to remem-

"Tell me what I need to know, Ben, or I'll shoot your friend here." A gun was turned on me suddenly. I was in a cold, snow-covered room, and my heart had just started beating like a jackhammer at the sight of Ian and his weapon facing me a few feet away.

I tried to hide myself behind a frosted, wooden column, suddenly covered in cold sweat.

"Hey," I tried hastily.

"Quiet, Riley!" I heard Ian shout. Ben's eyes glanced at me and then back to Ian fearfully.

What? Was that an actual memor-

"lan, why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together?" I pleaded, looking up at the man who was slowly elevating himself up a long, upwards tunnel.

He stopped the strange wooden contraption to pull a gun on me and I froze.

"Don't speak, again." He said, obviously miffed.

"Okay," I answered slowly, eyed trailed fixedly on the gun.

I snapped out of it, finally regaining my sense of composure. I stared at Ian (he wasn't 'Brit' anymore), fearfully backing away. He was distracted as he chose out a prize so my backpack and I bolted for it. I didn't know how to get out of here so I took a chance and dove over the counter into one of the game booths.

"Hey, if you're not a stuffed animal, you shouldn't be back here!" A pimple-faced teenager scolded me. I looked up at him, breathing heavily, hugging my backpack to my chest.

"I'm sorry; I'm just trying to hide from my stepdad." I lied through my teeth.

"Who? The big, blonde guy coming this way?" he asked me. My eyes widened and my heart beat harder.

"Stop chatting, and look up," I gritted through my teeth at the red headed adolescent. He quickly did as he was told and offered a smarmy smile as Ian approached the stall.

"Hello there? Up for a round of knock the pins down?" he asked.

"No, sorry." I could hear Ian say in his accented voice. "Have you seen a brown-haired young man? He's around your age, a bit older, with a navy blue backpack and a big jacket on. His name's Riley, and he might be in trouble."

I looked up to see the kid gulp visibly and wet his lips. My heart was beating at his inability to keep a believable ignorant face. Don't look down. Whatever you do, do not look down at me.

"Um, no, sir." He said. "I haven't seen him…"

I let out a sigh of relief. At least he could squeeze that out. There seemed to be a pause on Ian's part and I sucked in a breath again, thinking it might help me remain invisible.

"Okay thanks," Ian replied insincerely, shuffling off. The teen looked down at me and I offered him a grateful smile.

"You owe me," he stated simply.

"I know. Thank you." I said, peeking up over the counter to see the retreating form of Ian. I noticed him walking toward the Ferris wheel and realized he was probably going to break the news to Read and Tweed that I had run off. Not good. I needed to talk to those two about what I remembered. How in the world did they expect me to trust a man that almost tried to kill me, not once, but two times!? No reason would justify him as trustworthy, I reasoned. "Do you might if I stay in here a bit longer? I have to make a phone call."

"Oh sure, stay as long as you want. Have a margarita while you're at it. Is that floor treating you okay? We have a goose feathered pillows in the back if that would suit you better." The teen rambled on sarcastically.

"No, I'm fine down here. It's a bit stuffy but, hey, that's life, right?" I shrugged, equally sarcastic. The teen smiled at my similar sense of humor and shook his head, continuing his rallying towards the fair guests.

I unzipped my backpack and picked out the emergency phone. I tried to recall the way to the get to the menu and pick out a phone number but it wasn't working. I nudged the kid and he looked down.

"This phone: How do you get to the phone numbers list?" I asked. He raised his eyebrows haughtily.

"You seriously don't know how? Good god, you really are helpless." He took the phone out of my hands and pressed a few buttons. He handed it back to me suavely. "It's ringing."

I grabbed it hastily and stuck it to my ear. Read was already answering with a confused hello.

"Ben, Ben, Ben," I said, trying to grab his attention with his real name.

"Hello? Who's this? I can't talk right now." He started saying in a distracted tone.

"No, Ben, it's Riley." I said finally.

"Wait, what?" the voice on the other line asked quizzically. "Riley? Where are you? Ian and Abi just went off searching for you and I'm asking around the place. Just tell me where you are, don't move."

"Ben, Ben, I remembered something…" I said, ignoring Read's previous orders and saying the awful truth.

"Oh my god, wonderful! So, do you know who we are now? Ian, Abi, and me?" Read said hopefully.

"Not Abi and not you very much, just Ian." And even though we were on the phone, I could just picture Read's frowning.

"That's great," he said untruthfully.

"No, not great," I broke through. How could he say that? "Ben, do you know what Ian's done to me?!"

"Um-" Read began but I cut him off shortly.

"I got not one but two memories of him almost shooting me. God only knows how many times more he's tried!" I yelled vehemently, causing the teen to look down at him. I shot him a sheepish look before redirecting my focus to the man on the other line.

"Oh god, out of all the memories…" Ben murmured, sounding frustrated. I had my own frustrations to worry about, a major one being why we were hanging out with a killer this entire time. How could Read and Tweed talk peaceably to this man when they were obviously there for both near-shootings?! I groaned. My head was hurting a lot more than usual, and I thought recovering would mean it would throb less. "Riley, you don't understand. That was a long time ago."

"What?" I said, distracted from my head rubbing by the crazy man on the phone. "Ben, okay, I know I may have lost my memory and everything, yadda, yadda, but even I know a man like that doesn't deserve forgiveness-much less a place setting at the dinner table!"

"C'mon, Ri, let me explain. This memory you've had-It's complicated." Ben mumbled. My eye twitched at the comment.

"No, Ben, it's not. You're either for him or against him. Calling you was a mistake." Fed up with the entire, unexpected conversation, I hung up. I stuffed the phone in my backpack and curled my fists together shakily.

"Dude, are you all right?" the teen asked. I looked up into his mildly concerned eyes which were covered by shaggy hair.

"Yeah," I lied. "I-I just need to get out of here without anybody seeing me, okay? Any ideas?"

"Yeah, um, there's an employee exit out back. C'mon, nobody wants to play this rigged game anyway." The kid said, jabbing a finger at the buckets behind him.

I nodded gratefully and grabbed my backpack, slinging it onto back. We walked out of the booth towards the back entrance which was guarded by a locked, chain-linked fence. The teen spun in a code and clicked it open.

"I'm Riley, by the way," I said, offering a hand. He shook it and smiled. His smile faltered though as he looked past me. I quirked an eyebrow. What was his deal?

"It's nice to meet you, Riley, but I think you should really go." He said quickly, staring hostilely at something past me. I swiveled my head around and spotted Ian, who, in turn, spotted me. My eyes widened and it took a few minutes before my legs finally took action. I ran like a scared prey towards the road, forgetting the teen who stared a little bewildered between the two of us.

"Riley!" I heard my name being cried. I turned around to see how close he was behind me. If I kept running at the rate I was, I could probably lose him.

I turned back around and suddenly I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. My side was numb and my world was taken out from under me. Suddenly I hit the ground headfirst, gasping. The last thing I saw was Ian staring down at me with concerned eyes. Psh, like he really cares if I live or die…

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**A/N:** Well, I'm happy to be spitting up a rather lengthy chapter. Thank you your reviews. I was very happy to hear what you guys thought of the movie. I need to see it two more times in the theatres to make it five. I'm in love with the film. But .:gasp:. not as much as I love your guys' reviews. Those things I positively adore!

Have nice days,

-Sarah


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